Scent (smoke)

[Sitsbytree]

I've heard that a long time ago, indigenous peoples would cover themselves in smoke as a scent cover. I did this a few times late in the season last year without any success.
This year, I'm back to bathing in special scent free soaps, and washing my clothes with Code Blue detergent. This coupled with a scent cover and being mindful of the wind, and I'm back to harvesting deer

I only tried it a few times last year and again, late season. Anyone else try the smoke trick?

 

[Gravey]

Nope and never will. Your biggest asset in defeating a deer's nose is the wind. No matter what you do you cannot eliminate human scent. I try to be as scent feee as possible but the wind IMO is #1.

 

[lol]

Nope and never will. Your biggest asset in defeating a deer's nose is the wind. No matter what you do you cannot eliminate human scent. I try to be as scent feee as possible but the wind IMO is #1.

Can't play the wind everywhere. Up in the mountains the wind swirls like whitewater in a river. I'd be down to try anything at this point on our place. Last weekend I was walking across a food plot with the wind steady in my face and found a 20 yard section where it switched directions like a rip tide. Its like that all over.

 

[mike243]

You ever been in a tepee that had a fire burning in it? Don't think the smoke was on purpose

 

[deerhunter10]

Can't beat their nose. The deer that you think you did, you probably had thermals helping you. Or some deer just seem not to care. But especially mature deer use it and care. Play the wind learn thermals.

 

[Gravey]

Can't play the wind everywhere. Up in the mountains the wind swirls like whitewater in a river. I'd be down to try anything at this point on our place. Last weekend I was walking across a food plot with the wind steady in my face and found a 20 yard section where it switched directions like a rip tide. Its like that all over.

No doubt the wind shifts. I don't hunt the mountains but Sunday evening was set up on a field playing the south/southwest wind with it in my face and ever so often it would hit me in the back of my neck out of the north.

 

[skipperbrown]

If you are 200 to 300 yds (or further) upwind of a deer, it will smell you no matter what perfume you use. Some deer, usually young ones, may not get too upset, but an old doe or buck, will immediately get edgy and try to confirm where you are or increase the distance.

 

[MUP]

The nose knows.

 

[DaveTN]

I was recently shopping in Illinois. They must have been trying this because the smell of smoke covered up all other smells.

 

[collision man]

I've used it while bow hunting for years and I still do. I've had a lot of success using it as a cover scent.

 

[TnTurk]

The most simple explanation of how a deer smells is this...You walk into your kitchen and smell a freshly baked cake. A deer walks into your kitchen and smells the flour, eggs, milk, sugar, and whatever else was used to make that cake. So, to answer the question about using smoke to help cover human scent, the deer will smell you, the smoke, the toothpaste you brushed your teeth with, those downy fresh towels you dried off with after you bathed in scent free soap and the list goes on and on. The best strategies to defeat a deer's nose is get in undetected, play the wind, pay attention to the thermals throughout the day, and leave without a trace.

 

[ImThere]

I killed a lot of deer inside 20 with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth. lol. I think smoke makes them curious.

 

[DaveTN]

My favorite @Specializedjon quote......

Play the wind.

All the other "stuff" is commercial BS in my opinion.

Our fathers and grandfathers smoked Lucky Strikes and drank beer in the tree stand. Nuff said.

Edit: Wearing red and white flannel shirts and jeans ....zero camo.

 

[WilcoKen]

I've been using an acorn spray from Tinks and I've had a lot of deer come in downwind. Could be my wind was rising in thermals though.

 

[ImThere]

My favorite @Specializedjon quote......

Play the wind.

All the other "stuff" is commercial BS in my opinion.

Our fathers and grandfathers smoked Lucky Strikes and drank beer in the tree stand. Nuff said.

Edit: Wearing red and white flannel shirts and jeans ....zero camo.

Red and black flannel fyi.

 

[Tn_Va_Hunter]

Red and black flannel fyi.

Same shirt different day

 

[UTGrad]

I shower in scent free soaps and shampoos, do scent free laundry detergent and dryer sheets and finally, spray Dead Down Wind on my clothes and bottom of my boots at the truck. No I'm not eliminating my scent entirely, but I'm reducing it to throw off a deer that I may be further away or was there but not currently.

 

[TNGunsmoke]

Don't know how many deer I've shot while smoking a cigarette or cigarillo.

 

[backyardtndeer]

I shower in scent free soaps and shampoos, do scent free laundry detergent and dryer sheets and finally, spray Dead Down Wind on my clothes and bottom of my boots at the truck. No I'm not eliminating my scent entirely, but I'm reducing it to throw off a deer that I may be further away or was there but not currently.

Do the same. Have deer get downwind sometimes, occasionally it's unavoidable here. Have killed a few I probably shouldn't have that came in downwind. Smoke may raise curiosity with deer but it's not going to hide human scent.

 

[ImThere]

deer are going to deer! lol. They don't care how you set up down wind from them. They're going to mess that up! I love how you get a group of 8-10 does under you the first one is up wind of you, you have some directly under you and some still down wind! You just hope your scent goes over them And not falling.
I'm a scent freak. Dropping pods every few minutes to see where my scent is going. Washing, cleaning everything scent free. Getting dressed in the woods before walking in. When I figure out how to beat a deers nose I'm gonna be rich! So far the nose is undefeated!!

 

[Labboy]

A few years ago while hunting with an outfitter in Kansas the guide smoked our stuff in a garbage bag. He used a bee smoker with grill pellets in it then closed the bag. The guide said because the farmers burn a lot of fields there. I had deer all around me that week. I personally don't do it here in TN.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I try less every year on scent reduction and still kill just the same. From a lot of time spent dropping milkweed, you just can't do anything about it in the mountains. You can generally play thermals but it will still swirl and do weird things. Flat landers are a different situation.

 

[mike243]

For a lot of us hunt or not no matter what the wind is doing, just try to not use any scents for laundry and showers, it can't hurt and the cost is minimal, it would be nice to have enough property to move depending on the wind but public is about it if nobody else is there also

 

[30-06 type of guy]

I shower in scent free soaps and shampoos, do scent free laundry detergent and dryer sheets and finally, spray Dead Down Wind on my clothes and bottom of my boots at the truck. No I'm not eliminating my scent entirely, but I'm reducing it to throw off a deer that I may be further away or was there but not currently.

This. I use the cetaphil fragrance free body wash. My washer and dryer is cleaned with a spray I make then both get ran on empty loads with baking soda and ALL brand detergent and fragrance free dryer sheets. Towels, clothes, backpack and whatever can be washed is washed and dried then thrown in a tote with cedar. I keep a tote in my truck and in my laundry room to transfer back n forth. My clothes don't come out until I'm parked at the gate. I don't hunt the wind unless it just happens to line up with a spot I want to go to. I'm just here to have fun. I hunt HEAVY pressured public.

 

[6.5swede]

Can't play the wind everywhere. Up in the mountains the wind swirls like whitewater in a river. I'd be down to try anything at this point on our place. Last weekend I was walking across a food plot with the wind steady in my face and found a 20 yard section where it switched directions like a rip tide. Its like that all over.

I agree, and I have a lot to learn about thermals. They play a bigger part in slight to moderate wind. I've hunted the wind correctly and still gotten busted.

 

[JeepKuntry]

My routine is scent free soap and deo. As for my clothes, I ozone outer layers. Bases where I sweat I wash, hang dry, 10 minute ozone only cause the wife uses scented soap and dryer sheets so I am trying everything to rid what I can scent wise.

 

[Stalkhunter]

One thing that has helped me I actually rub dirt on me from the woods I am in.

 

[Stalkhunter]

Also I take my clothes after I was them in baking soda and put them in a bag with leaves and dirt at bottom of bag. I don't buy the advertised stuff

 

[DMD]

To each his own. I used to use all the nonsense sprays and cover scrnts, etc. over the years I quit them all. I save a pile of money and aggravation and have done just as well or really better without them. Just my 2 cents.

 

[tree_ghost]

I do zero scent control. Play with the dogs before I leave, feed the goats, pump gas…it doesn't matter IMO. Play the wind and thermals the best you can and the rest is up to good luck I've come to find